The Search for the Sonata
by Kawaii-KeKe-Chan
Summary: Kurapika has wiped out the Spiders and wishes to repay Senritsu. Together they embark on finding and destroying the Sonata of Darkness. Will Senritsu recover her true form? And how will that alter their relationship?


**The Search for the Sonata**

**Chapter 1**

"This is it..." Senritsu's hand trembled as she opened the vault. There was dull creak as the door swung and a hiss as the old air escaped.

She and Kurapika had been searching for the Sonata of Darkness for the last month. Kurapika had promised Senritsu that, after eradicating the Phantom Troupe, he would help her obtain her goal. She had sacrificed much to help him, and he wanted to fully repay her.

Kurapika kept watch behind Senritsu, happy that his friend had finally found what she had sought after for so long. It had been a fruitless search to begin with, and even with Senritsu's patience and Kurapika's planning, there had been a point when all hope seemed lost. Then, after an anonymous email through the Hunter website, they had tracked down the castle of a dead warlord from long ago. The castle was now open to the public as a museum- however, no one had been able to visit the basement, as the door had been sealed tight.

They had crept in after hours, scouting the museum for a few days previous, under the guise of normal tourists. They were used to taking on other appearances now, after their many missions as bodyguards.

Finally, they had reached the basement, and Kurapika had worked out how to unseal the door. The room was full of dust and rot, having been untouched for some fifty years. It had been easy enough to locate the safe, behind a gold, antique mirror.

"It's the harp..." Senritsu registered, slight disappointment in her voice as she read the scroll. Of course, she wanted to eradicate all the solo pieces, but she had hoped she would find the flute first, so that she could gain her old body.

Kurapika drew closer, curious. The Sonata was written on faded parchment, looking nothing more than innocent writing, much like the ones above in the museum. But he knew its true power, knew how the music of the flute solo had killed Senritsu's friend and altered her completely.

"Be careful..." he warned. They had researched the best way to destroy the Sonata, and it seemed fire was the only option. Therefore Senritsu had trained herself to emit a special nen fire from her flute.

She took out said flute now, her whole body shaking. She was usually the picture of composure. Senritsu had always calmed Kurapika's heart with her music, especially during important battles with the Phantom Troupe. He knew, without her intervention, he would be dead. So now he rested a steadying hand on her shoulder, and gave her a heart warming smile.

Nodding her thanks, Senritsu lifted the flute to her lips, and began to play. The music was beautiful but deadly. It made Kurapika's skin tingle, and he could feel his eyes flash with the anticipation.

The aqua blue fire burst forth, attacking the scroll. It seemed to scream, but the music drowned it out, and they watched as the parchment lit, curling as the blue flame licked across it. It took a few seconds for it to crumble into ash, the blue giving way to black.

Senritsu fell to her knees, and Kurapika was there, supporting her, putting her arm around his shoulder. The effort had exhausted her completely, but she managed a smile.

"One down..." Kurapika told her gently, and she nodded happily.

**(†~ ~†)**

The next Sonata took longer to find- a grueling three months of searching. There had been a few fakes and wrong turns, but the relationship between the two remained as strong, bound together by their past struggles.

This scroll was owned by a collector- a specialist in rare things. If Kurapika had not already recovered all the eyes of his kinsmen, he knew this man would have owned a pair. The collector lived in a mansion, similar in size to their last mistress Neon's house. It seemed he was intelligent enough not to have attempted to play the music.

They thought they would have to break in, but a compromise was agreed. Kurapika and Senritsu found themselves sitting in the man's office, accepting cups of tea.

"My name is Enki," he said, introducing himself. He was an older gentleman, bald with dark eyes, and he wore a crisp grey suit. "How can I help you?"

Kurapika made the introductions, and Senritsu told her tale. Enki listened, intrigued, but didn't believe her until she showed him her decayed arm. Like Kurapika, he flinched. Like that time, Senritsu felt a stab in her heart.

"Your need is greater than mine," Enki admitted, "And I'll give it to you on one condition- you find an artifact for me to replace it with."

Kurapika tensed, fearing the worst, but it was not scarlet eyes Enki sought- simply another scroll, this time a poem written by Prince from hundreds of years ago. They located it easily thanks to their Hunter access, and returned to claim the Sonata.

"It's the flute solo!" Kurapika exclaimed, as they accepted it from Enki.

"Oh, my..." Senritsu held it delicately, as if it might break. Enki left them to it, giving them the privacy of his drawing room.

Kurapika bit his lip. He was happy for his friend, but the danger was so great. There was little known about the Sonata, as it was mainly believed to be myth. Senritsu and he had concluded from their research that the only way for the curse to be reversed was for the girl to play the solo herself.

"Maybe we should investigate a little more..." Kurapika said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "We do not know for sure that it will work...it may cause you great danger, even death..."

"I can't wait any longer..." Senritsu said, her eyes blazing with uncharacteristic passion. "I can't stand to be in this body one second longer!"

Kurapika gently tried to persuade her, but she wouldn't hear of it. She forced him out the room, and told him to ensure no one else was in ear shot, as they too would be affected.

**(****†~****†****)**

He patrolled the corridors nervously, wearing sound cancelling ear plugs for extra safety. The drawing room was well located, at the end of a long hall way, so no one would be able to accidentally enter the room. Still, he knew Senritsu would never forgive herself if someone else was inflicted, so he kept a careful guard.

The minutes ticked away, and Kurapika wished he could have stayed in the room with her. The thought of losing his friend was unbearable- he counted her one of his closest comrades. She was kind and loyal, with a pure heart. Kurapika knew, if her appearance matched her personality, she would gain all types of unwanted attention. As it was, she was shunned, because of her baldness, small eyes and large teeth. Kurapika didn't care much for appearances- after all, the reason his clan had been murdered was because their eyes were too beautiful. He hated when he heard girls comment that he was "pretty"- because of his perfect skin, blonde hair and black eyes (they were actually contacts). They knew nothing about the real him- that he was ruthless, a murderer, scarred by the past. No one could believe it when he said he'd never had a girlfriend. How could he? How could he lower his guard with any girl, knowing that when he was angry or excited, his eyes would flash red? How would he know she wouldn't betray him for the price his eyes attracted? Besides, he hadn't been interested in dating. He'd only had one thing on his mind all these years- revenge.

Senritsu was the only woman he knew that didn't care about his looks. She had helped him because she could, because she related to his story. Though she wasn't completely unaffected, as proved by the incident the day before in the hotel, when she had walked in on him undressing for his shower. Kurapika resisted a giggle at the expression on his friend's face as she had gazed at him topless, before immediately blushing and backtracking out of the room.

After twenty minutes had passed, Kurapika found himself outside the door of the drawing room. He couldn't remove his ear plugs in case she was still playing the music, so he used his Guiding Ring Finger Chain to sense if there were any sound vibrations coming from the room. Feeling nothing, Kurapika slowly eased an ear plug out his ear, ready to cram it back in at any sudden noise- but there was silence.

Kurapika felt his heart freeze, and he burst into the room, his eyes bleeding scarlet- "Senritsu!"

He was stopped in his tracks by the chaos. It was as if a small tornado had hit- all the furniture was broken, the desk splintered in two, the chairs collapsed and books spilt from their shelves. Kurapika couldn't even see his friend in the room, and he scourged the floor, digging with his hands under the rubble and dust, coughing.

"Senritsu!" he gasped, finally seeing her familiar green clothing. He pushed away the debris, parts of the ceiling no doubt, to free his friend.

He stopped, his hands in mid air, at what he saw.

At first, he thought a servant had accidentally been caught up in the fray. Then, his stunned brain remembered that the Senritsu he knew was not her true form. Blinking, he pulled the unconscious girl into his arms, brushing the dust from her hair. It was long, like Senritsu's had been, but mahogany brown in colour. A long fringe covered her eyes, which were coated with dark lashes. Unlike the girl he knew, who was short and dumpy, this girl was slim and lean. The clothes were now baggy on her, showing off her white arms and legs. Kurapika checked her arm, the one she had revealed when she told him her secret. It was unmarked, the skin perfect.

"The curse has been lifted..." Kurapika realised aloud. He shook the girl gently. "Senritsu. Senritsu, wake up..."

She cringed at the noise, her small nose scrunching. She blinked, revealing soft, lilac eyes.

"K-Kurapika...?" she asked, gazing blearily at him. She held her head, clearly in pain. "I'm...alive?"

"Yes..." Kurapika grinned, and he helped her to her feet. She staggered, unused to her long limbs.

"I'm...back to normal!" she gasped, her hands touching her body, her hair, her face.

"Yes," Kurapika laughed, watching his friend as she danced about the room, unable to believe her good fortune.

"Ahh!" she stumbled across a mirror, although smashed on the floor, and peered at it. "My eyes!" she cried, "I had forgotten what they looked like!"

"They're beautiful..." Kurapika said, honestly.

Senritsu blushed at the compliment, and Kurapika felt his heart race increase.

"Oh?" Senritsu said, touching her ears. "That's strange. I thought I would lose my advanced hearing?"

It was Kurapika's turn to blush at this comment, and he looked at his feet hastily.

"Oh, your flute!" he said, spotting the instrument on the floor, glad for a distraction.

"Ahh good, it's not broken!" Senritsu beamed, and she took it from Kurapika, their fingers brushing.

Kurapika cursed himself as he felt tingles. _I wasn't attracted to her before, but now I know she's beautiful...? I never thought I was so shallow..._

"Oh dear, this place is a mess!" Senritsu observed, picking her way through the debris. "I better go apologise to Enki..."

She was just climbing over a fallen bookcase when she tripped, her now too loose clothing catching on a nail. The large ripping noise echoed in the room, and Senritsu fell over onto the floor.

"Senritsu, are you okay?" Kurapika called, clambering over to her. She had fallen face forward, and she slowly sat up, shaking her head dazedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine...eeeks!" she suddenly cried, realising her shirt had torn up the middle. She covered herself, embarrassed, her cheeks flushing pink.

"We should have brought spare clothes with us," Kurapika said, diverting his eyes, as he shrugged out of his blue and gold tabard, "I never considered that factor in our plans..."

Senritsu accepted the clothing gratefully. "It's my fault. I was so caught up in the excitement I forgot how different my body is..."

She put on Kurapika's tabard, discreetly inhaling his scent. He glanced at her from under his hair, and he felt a thrill from seeing her wearing his garment.

"Kura...pika?" she asked confusedly, hearing his heart rate spike. It usually only happened when he was angry, so she was worried something had happened.

"Let's go," he smiled, his face a perfect mask.

**(†~ ~†)**

**I was shocked that there's little Kurapika x Senritsu (Melody) fiction out there, but I realise it's mainly because of how she looks. We can all pretend to be as unassuming as we want, but the fact is, if Senritsu was as beautiful as the other females in Hunter x Hunter, there would be hundreds of fics out there.**

**Of course, I'm no better, changing her appearance. I'm not suggesting a relationship couldn't start with them otherwise, but come on. The reason you're reading this is because, like me, you're a Kurapika fan girl, and you think he's gorgeous. We can all pretend looks don't matter, but let's be honest, fandom culture is (mostly) about pretty people. And it's okay, because it's not real. I'm not saying I agree with it- I'm just stating facts ^_^**

**Plus, knowing Yoshihiro Togashi as I do, I think he's planning to reveal Senritsu as a beauty (hopefully he gets well enough to return to the manga soon!)**

**This is just a little plot bunny I had in my head. It will probs be a 2 or 3 chapter fic!**


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